1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is an enclosure for natural gas wellheads, providing protection, ease of access to the wellhead components, electrical grounding, and ventilation to prevent danger in the event of leaks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Natural gas wellheads are frequently enclosed by either fiberglass enclosures that must be lifted off the wellhead to gain access to the various components, or with make-shift plywood structures. Such enclosures not only impede access to the wellhead, but may also fail to provide proper ventilation to permit natural gas to exit the enclosure in the event of a leak, and also fail to provide electrical grounding to prevent static electricity sparks in the presence of natural gas.
Various housings for wellheads have been proposed in an attempt to overcome some of these disadvantages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,740, issued to J. W. Boley on Jun. 22, 1982, describes an underground wellhead bunker. Such an underground bunker does not provide the ease of access to the wellhead components that removal of a portion of the housing can provide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,592, issued to P. F. Lilienthal, II, et al. on Oct. 5, 1999, describes a protective enclosure for outdoor equipment. The enclosure includes a plurality of hollow panels, which are assembled, and possibly filled, at the site of the equipment. The equipment is then installed within the cabinet. This enclosure fails to provide ease of installation over pre-existing equipment, and means for accessing and servicing this equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,046, issued to T. G. Quine et al. on Jan. 23, 2001, describes a portable, pre-manufactured, modular natural gas delivery station. The delivery station will typically be a modular building including a gas metering and regulating room, an odorant room, a boiler room, an energy generation room, and an electrical and control room. These rooms will typically contain gas piping with a gas inlet and outlet, a metering unit, a heat exchanger, a natural gas-powered generator, and a control unit. The building described by this patent has no features to facilitate removal of a portion of the building for access to the equipment, for example, to perform additional drilling.
Examples of other enclosures include U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,778, issued to A. Mazpule et al. on Jul. 26, 1994, describing a portable enclosure; U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,043, issued to H. C. McDonald, on Jul. 13, 1999, describing a pre-fabricated enclosed building; U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,673, issued to E. D. Adams on Jan. 4, 2000, describing a modular hunting blind; U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,660, issued to W. F. Melton on May 9, 2000, describing a portable garage; U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,230, issued to S. Gould on Aug. 15, 2000, describing an enclosure system; and European Pat. Application 0,481,246 published Apr. 22, 1992, describing a public laboratory.
Accordingly, an enclosure for natural gas wellheads having various doors dimensioned and configured to permit access to the wellhead, removable enclosure portions to facilitate access to larger portions of the wellhead, ventilation, and electrical grounding is desired.
The present invention is an enclosure for natural gas wellheads having a fixed portion dimensioned and configured to be entered by a person, and a removable portion dimensioned and configured to enclose the wellhead itself.
The enclosure of the present invention is mounted on a base frame, with the fixed portion including a floor. The frame includes a channel on each side, dimensioned and configured to receive the sides of the removable portion, and a plurality of clamps dimensioned and configured to secure the removable portion to the frame. The removable enclosure portion includes a hatch dimensioned and configured to provide access to the wellhead, and a plurality of handles to facilitate removal and installation of the removable portion.
The fixed enclosure portion contains the total flow computer, the V-cone measurement meter, the water turbine measurement meter, and a building vent. The gas and water pipelines extending upward from the ground at the wellhead continue into the fixed portion of the enclosure, proceeding through the meters and onward to storage and/or distribution systems as is well-known in the art of natural gas extraction. An opening defined in one side of the fixed enclosure portion communicates with one end of the removable enclosure portion. The floor of the fixed enclosure portion includes a hole dimensioned and configured to permit the gas and water pipes to reenter the ground. The fixed enclosure portion also includes one or more vents to permit natural gas to exit the fixed enclosure portion, preventing build-up of natural gas within the enclosure if a leak should occur. Additionally, the enclosure includes grounding lugs dimensioned and configured to provide for the discharge of static electricity, thereby preventing electrical sparks from occurring in close proximity to the natural gas.
The wellhead enclosure of the present invention offers several advantages over presently known enclosures. The removable portion covering the wellhead itself permits performing simple operations, for example, cleaning strainers, or checking to ensure that the wellhead is working properly, by merely opening the hatch. More difficult operations, for example, redrilling the well, drilling the well to a deeper depth, or checking the water pump located within the well, are facilitated by removal of the removable enclosure portion. The total flow computer and meters are provided with the best possible protection from outside weather conditions and unauthorized tampering by their location within the fixed enclosure portion.
It is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide a natural gas wellhead enclosure having a fixed portion dimensioned and configured to protect peripheral devices, and a removable enclosure portion dimensioned and configured to protect the wellhead itself.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a natural gas wellhead enclosure having means for ventilating the enclosure, thereby preventing build-up of natural gas within the enclosure in the event of a leak.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a natural gas wellhead enclosure having electrical grounding, preventing static electricity discharges in the presence of natural gas.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent through the following description and drawings.